Lung Cancer

Lung cancer remains the deadliest cancer, with 26,624 deaths in 2005, and affects mainly men (78% of 31 000 cases in 2005). However, mortality from lung cancer in humans decreases while increasing in women (+ 4.2% per year) at an alarming rate. The progression of lung cancer in women is in line with increase of smoking between 2000 and 2005.

About one in 20 lung cancer patients has a previously unsuspected molecular change in their tumor that is driving their cancer: a breakpoint in the tumor's chromosomes called an ALK fusion protein. This molecular change has now been matched to a new oral drug called an ALK inhibitor, which is having dramatic results in the patients who have taken it in clinical trials so far.

Even though investigations have found the incidence of occurrence of asbestosis, a lung condition, in the Libby, Montana area to be higher than the U.S. national average for the period from 1979-1998, it has nothing on the Nahariya, Israel or Genoa, Italy. Genoa, is the leader of world lung cancer cases due to Asbestos.

Research on the cause of lung cancer has been one of exhaustive studies. Much research in recent years has attempted to answer the question of why some individuals whom share similar traits, such as smokers, develop lung cancer, while others from the same cohort do not. Some studies have indicated nicotine addiction may play a role, along with other environmental conditions.

Government and private sector cancer scientists today launched a research partnership to find biomarkers for lung cancer that develops in people who have never smoked. The research studies are designed to create a better understanding of the biology of lung cancer and to develop a test to detect early-stage lung cancer in lifetime nonsmokers.

University Hospitals Case Medical Center is currently enrolling patients in START, a Phase III clinical study assessing the efficacy and safety of BLP25 Liposome Vaccine (L-BLP25), an investigational therapeutic lung cancer vaccine designed to treat patients with unresectable, stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Women who smoke tobacco may be more susceptible than are men to the cancer causing effects of tobacco. Researchers studied women who smoked significantly less than men did, finding that women who smoke tobacco are diagnosed with lung cancer at a younger age. The findings show that women are more vulnerable to carcinogens in tobacco.

Prevention, personalized therapies and closer collaborations between surgeons, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists will result in better lung cancer treatment outcomes for lung cancer patients and those at risk, a leading European expert says.

Researchers have uncovered the answer to why some smokers develop lung cancer, but not others. Smoking does increase lung cancer risk, but a new study shows that the presence of a metabolite in urine is associated with higher risk of lung cancer. The findings could lead to early detection and treatment of lung cancer, improving outcomes.

The search for the cause of an inherited form of a rare, aggressive childhood lung cancer has uncovered important information about how the cancer develops and potentially sheds light on the development of other cancers.